Outwitted
by ThatMaddyBee
Summary: There's nothing quite like a hyperactive child to keep two of Konoha's best ninjas on their toes. Here's hoping they can stop staring at each other long enough to survive it all.


**(A Shika/Saku addiction? Me? Never)**

* * *

Outwitted

* * *

The deafening silence was broken as Shikamaru gulped audibly, tugging nervously at the neck of his jounin vest. He was doing everything he could to maintain eye contact with the girl in front of him - he couldn't show such obvious weakness, for she would rip him apart instantly. Although, he was currently debating whether it would be better if he saved himself the unnecessary torture and just killed himself right then and there.

Then again, if his blood left a stain on her welcome mat he would definitely not be resting in peace.

Finally, she sighed loudly and moved her hand from her cocked hip to rub at her temple.

"Fine. My shift ends at 5, I'll head over after."

Relief drooped his shoulders and a genuine smile came to his face as Sakura retreated back into her apartment with a call of "But you so owe me for this, Nara."

As the door was shut in his face, he fought hard to shift the stupid smile and replace it instead with his signature indifferent look. Hands deep in his pockets, he started down the road and wondered whether or not this was actually a good idea.

* * *

They had been close friends for years now, work companions turned confidants, and so Sakura wasn't surprised to hear his signature knock on her door. She wasn't anticipating being asked to join him on babysitting duty, but she knew that as much as the boy loved Kira like an older-brother would, he was also Shikamaru - lazy, easily manipulated by children, and not a master at entertainment. She had agreed out of pity, but after the day she was having, she wanted nothing more than to go home, throw herself into a duvet cocoon and stay there for at least 2 weeks.

Not that she didn't love Kira. After the death of Asuma, Shikamaru had taken on the role of lead male influence in the girl's life, helping out Kurenai in any way he could. So when Sakura became close to the shadow-user, she in turn came to know both Kurenai and Kira well. Kira looked up to her in a way that Sakura couldn't help but adore, and deep down she loved the feeling of having someone who looked up to her - someone who found her more awe-inspiring than her teammates.

It was always nice to be someone's favourite.

With this thought bringing a smile to her face, she dumped her patients charts in a stack on the nurse's station and told herself she would just stop quick shower before she headed over to Kurenai's place. After all, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't excited to see Shikamaru again.

She couldn't pinpoint when she had fallen for the genius, she only knew that one day she had suddenly realised she couldn't imagine her life without him. That had been nearly 4 months ago now, and she still had yet to do anything about the attraction.

Well, she had subtly tried to make her intentions known, but for a genius Shikamaru was the least un-observant man she'd ever met when it came to personal matters. When Ino had learnt of her growing feelings, the blonde had reminded her that Shikamaru was a man, and therefore needed neon signs and not subtle hints.

Ino had always been a big believer in the idea that if you wanted a man, you had a couple of drinks then planted yourself in his lap until he got the message.

Sakura possessed no such confidence and so was resigned to the idea that she would be alone forever.

But that didn't mean she couldn't appreciate the ruggedly handsome aesthetic of Shikamaru in that tight green shirt he owned.

* * *

Apparently the gods were on her side today because when the front door opened for her 40 minutes later, he was indeed wearing the shirt rather than his usual uniform.

He was also wearing a frazzled expression and had pink paint in his hair, but the effect was endearing. He looked so hopeless that she couldn't help but laugh and receive an exasperated eye roll in return.

"Sympathetic as always," he grouched, opening the door wider to let her in, "I always thought doctors were supposed to be nice people."

The slap to his arm should have been expected. Huffing a laugh, he lead the way through to the living room. Sat on the floor, painting on the coffee table, was Kira.

Kira, who appeared to be covered head to toe in various shades of paint and glitter.

Said girl looked up from her artwork as the two jounin entered the room, and quickly launched herself towards the pinkette.

"Sakura-nee-chan!" she cried delightedly as she wrapped herself tightly around the knees of the older girl. Sakura laughed, and smoothed down her hair affectionately.

"Hey Kira, that's some pretty art you're making there. Are you having fun with Shikamaru or is he being a boring old meanie?"

Said meanie threw her an indignant look, which she solidly ignored and instead watched as Kira hopped around the room.

"Shika-chan said that I'm devil spawn!" the girl said cheerily, grinning from ear to ear.

With a snort of amusement, Sakura locked eyes with an only-mildly guilty looking Shikamaru, who merely shrugged at her raised eyebrow.

"Right, well how about you and me play a game while Shika-chan makes us all dinner?" Sakura suggested, smiling cheekily at the tall boy in front of her, who fixed her with a withering look.

"Oh come on, I'm sure you'll survive one night of cooking," she reassured mockingly, patting him on the chest as she passed him to the kitchen, the devil spawn skipping happily behind her.

As he rolled his eyes to the heavens, he couldn't help but think that he could survive dinner, he just wasn't sure if he could handle an evil 5 year old and the woman of his dreams ganging up against him.

Nope, he didn't stand a chance.

* * *

In retrospect, when Shikamaru called her a demon child, Sakura probably should have listened.

If she had, then she wouldn't currently be tied to a chair with orange juice dripping from her hair.

If only her comrade wasn't too busy keeling over in laughter to help her.

But his laughter was contagious, and soon she found herself giggling at her current predicament. A ninja beaten by a five-year old, who was now playing the part of a total innocent and had run off to sit herself at the dining room table.

As his laughter subdued to chuckles, she sent him a pout and he knelt down behind her to undo the bindings of skipping ropes.

"Kakashi and Tsunade-sama must be so proud." He joked, confident in the fact that she couldn't currently retaliate.

Even if she could, she was far too focused on the feeling of his warm fingers on her wrist to be concerned about any physical contact of the non-sexual kind.

Great, now she was picturing it.

Therefore, it was several seconds before she noticed that he had successfully untied her, and was now stood back in front of her with a hand on her shoulder and his face very close to hers.

"Earth to Sakura, we have a hell spawn to keep alive."

Ignoring the blush that she felt flare up on her cheeks, she rose from the chair so quickly that Shikamaru had to take a step back to avoid being head-butted.

"Right, you get on that, I'm going to go wash up." She spat out in a jumble, quickly turning to rush to the master-bathroom.

Leaving behind a slightly confused Shikamaru, she hurriedly locked herself away, splashing cold water on her face in the hope it would hide her blush. Willing away the thoughts of being pinned to the bed by a naked Shikamaru, she took some deep breaths. Man, she really needed to get laid. Although she knew that some random hook-up would do nothing to satisfy her. It was obvious who she needed.

A loud sigh escaped her as she washed the sticky mess from her hair, telling herself that this was not the time to be thinking about such things. Right now, her goal was to survive the terror that only a small child can bestow. Squaring her shoulders, she pasted a smile on to her face and headed back to the dining room to join the others.

"So, bath, story, then bed I- "

The handful of noodles hit her right in the face.

* * *

For what must have been the thirtieth time that evening, Sakura cursed herself for ever taking pity on Shikamaru.

She was currently sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling above her. She hadn't been this tired since her last mission to the Land of Snow that turned into two weeks of tracking their target across several nations, with only the constant fighting of Naruto and Kiba to keep her awake.

The last two hours had been spent chasing the young girl around the room because, for some reason, the genius that was Shikamaru had given Kira sweets in an attempt to keep her happy and then neglected to tell Sakura. The sugar-rush had hit with no warning and lasted nearly three hours.

Three hours of food-fights, shrieking laughter and attempting to not be beaten up by a child.

She'd tripped over furniture twice trying to round the girl up to put her to bed, and bath-time had nearly ended in Sakura drowning in an avalanche of bubble bath. Finally though, Kira was in bed, Shikamaru was showering off the remnants of dinner and Sakura was in a tank-top and Shikamaru's spare pair of sweats.

A fact that she was having great difficulty not dwelling on.

Definitely not thinking about how they smelled like him, and definitely not wondering whether he ever went commando in them.

As soon as that train of thought entered her brain, Shikamaru walked into the room wearing his regular jounin pants and a blue tee, and she had to force herself to make eye contact rather than take in his lithe, still damp form. Eye contact was then forgotten when she realised that his hair was down.

They'd been friends for years, gone on countless overnight missions together, and still she had never seen him with his hair down. It had never really occurred to her what he might look like without his signature ponytail, but she could now confirm he looked insanely hot with the dark locks brushing down over his collarbones.

Noticing her stare, Shikamaru dropped next to her on the couch and raised an eyebrow in question. Sakura cleared her throat lightly and tried to turn her attention to whatever was playing on the tv, because she really needed to stop staring.

"I've never seen you with your hair down," she supplied. Shikamaru made a thoughtful hum and leant back into the sofa, throwing an arm across the back of it.

"I like it down," she said quietly after a few seconds of silence, tapping a finger on her thigh nervously, before looking up and catching the smile on Shikamaru's face. He was unfairly attractive on the rare occasions he smiled. The moment was ruined slightly when she let out a loud yawn that had him chuckling, before they lapsed into comfortable silence, both paying minimal attention to the tv and both hyper-aware of how close together they were.

The sofa was extremely comfortable and Sakura felt herself slowly slip further down into the cushion until she was curled up with her feet buried under Shikamaru's thigh for warmth. As she felt her eye-lids grow heavy, the chime of a clock had her glancing up. Finding it was already 11pm, she groaned loudly and buried her face into the cushion.

"Ugh, I don't want to move ever," Sakura whined, not even able to think about the fact that her house was on the other side of the district. It was raining and cold and she was so comfy in these sweats and -

"You could stay here, you know."

-and that wasn't what she expected to hear.

Lifting her head from the armrest, she raised her eyes only to find Shikamaru staring intently at the tv. He cleared his throat awkwardly, but in a bold move she didn't expect, he pulled her feet up into his lap and started to rub his thumbs into her arches.

"I mean, you don't have to, it's just your apartment's pretty far away and I have Kira all day tomorrow. I could do with the help, as you can probably tell."

With his warm hands now doing wonders for her feet, Sakura knew she couldn't say no even if she tried. So when Shikamaru finally chanced a glance at her, he was met with a warm smile that made his chest tighten.

"Well now you really owe me," she replied sleepily, closing her eyes and losing herself in his presence.

* * *

xxxxx

* * *

Sakura was pretty sure she had never slept so well.

It was a quiet morning, she felt refreshed and insanely comfy, and the warmth radiating from behind her had her reluctant to ever move. Not that she could even if she did want to, due to the arm that was anchored around her waist. She wasn't sure exactly when they had ended up spooning in their sleep, but she knew that she would be unabashedly happy if she could wake up like this every morning.

The sudden blast of cartoon music, however, she could definitely live without.

Both Sakura and Shikamaru bolted upright at the interruptance, gaze leaping from Kira sat in the chair next to them, to each other. They sat frozen for several seconds, before Shikamaru suddenly pulled his arm from her as if scorched and scrambled to stand.

"I'm going to go shower," he said, with false cheeriness before practically throwing himself up the stairs. Not having a clue what to make of that reaction, Sakura smoothed down her hair self-consciously before turning to Kira.

"Sleep well, pumpkin?" she smiled, feeling a wash of protectiveness come over her at the sight of the girl cuddled up in her pink pyjamas, and a sleepy expression still on her face. The girl nodded in response, too transfixed with the tv to reply properly. Shaking her head in amused exasperation, Sakura left her to it and went to make breakfast.

* * *

When Shikamaru came back down 15 minutes later, it was to the delicious smell of pancakes and the sound of laughter. Hovering in the door to the kitchen, he took in the domestic scene with a content smirk.

He dreaded to think how long this peace would last.

Luckily, breakfast passed without incident, but Shikamaru refused to relax - constant vigilance was needed to combat the enemy. Even if the enemy in this case was a deceptively cute child.

Hence why he was currently clinging onto Kira's hand as tight as he could, because he definitely didn't trust her not to run off and disappear into the crowd. The two were currently meandering through the edge of the central market, on their way to the Nara complex. Shikamaru had almost forgotten about the stack of reports that were sat on his desk, and the fact that they were to be with the Hokage by 4pm or she would demote him permanently to envelope licker.

Sakura, meanwhile, had received an urgent summon to the hospital after a genin team turned up poisoned and nearing death. With the assurance that she'd catch up to them as soon as possible, she had run off immediately after breakfast.

It was sad that he already sort of missed her.

Because he needed the help with Kira, of course. No other reason.

They were on the path to the Nara household, Kira pulling on his hand determinedly in a fit of whining boredom, when Sakura touched down lightly next to him. She looked exhausted, but she was smiling, meaning the genin were all alright. She was freshly showered, skin still pink and the scent of mangos rolling off her damp hair.

Ok, now he was sniffing her, he needed to stop before he got compared to Kiba.

Kira immediately threw herself at the older woman, who simply laughed, lifting the child under the arms to swing her around. Kira squealed loudly in delight, and Shikamaru couldn't find the strength in him to stop the dopey smile that was stuck on his face. As Sakura settled the bouncing girl on her hip, she finally made eye contact with Shikamaru and he had to remind himself how to breathe.

"How was surgery?" he managed to choke out, trying to keep his tone casual, and tamper down the nicotine craving that had his fingers twitching.

"It was fine, they're being kept in for a few days and I'll go back tomorrow to check on them, but they'll be right as rain by next week." She shrugged as she spoke, playing down what she'd done to save three lives like it was no big deal.

"I'm glad they're alright." He smiled, reaching out to touch her upper arm briefly, before turning towards the house. He then stiffened as he realised his mother was standing in the doorway, and had probably seen the whole thing.

Shit.

Kira was now making cooing noises as some of the family deer approached the pathway. Both Sakura and Kira were frequent visitors to the Nara complex, and so the animals were no longer frightened of the two females. Catching Sakura's eye, he nodded his head towards his house. It was then that Sakura noticed Yoshino, and waved happily with her free hand, before turning back to where Kira was now wriggling to get down and pet the deer.

Resigning himself to his fate, he approached his mother with the straightest face he could muster up.

She was leant on the doorframe, arms crossed and eyebrows raised. A smile bloomed on her face as she grabbed him in a hug, that he grudgingly returned. She then held him at arms length and examined him closely in that way that only mothers could do.

"So, you asked Sakura to help you out...was yesterday too much for you?"

"Actually, she was with us yesterday as well." he replied, rubbing his neck in discomfort. A spark flashed in the elder Nara's eyes, and Shikamaru instantly knew he'd said the wrong thing.

Before he could move the conversation on, his mother spoke again, but this time her eyes were fixed over his shoulder on the other females.

"She's a good person, Shikamaru. You deserve that."

Looking back, he saw Sakura stroking the nose of the stag, while the does fluttered around the child, who was chatting away to them happily.

A knowing smile on her face, Yoshino smacked the papers he had come for into his chest.

"When you do eventually do something about that, bring her to dinner. Visit your poor mother every now and then."

Rolling his eyes in exasperation, he placated her with a kiss on the cheek and left to collect his tag-alongs.

And although they spent 10 minutes coaxing Kira to leave the animals alone, all he could focus on was how close Sakura kept standing next to him.

* * *

It had been a long couple of days, but finally, they were free.

Kurenai had returned, pampered and relaxed to a crushing hug from her child and the extreme gratitude of both Sakura and Shikamaru.

The two were now on the porch steps, breathing sighs of relief and wondering if Konoha had always been this quiet.

"Dinner?" Shikamaru propositioned, a half-smile tugging at the corners of his lips. His face was bathed in dim light, his hands buried deep in his pocket and Sakura couldn't even contemplate for a second why the hell anyone would have said no to that.

"Please, I need tempura in me asap."

Laughing quietly, he led the way down the steps and back through the streets to the main strip where most of the restaurants where. She didn't know where he was leading her, but thanks to his friendship with Chouji he always knew where to find good food, and she always trusted him on that. There wasn't much she didn't trust him with.

The place he chose was one she had walked past almost every day for a year, and had never got around to trying. She was pleasantly surprised by the cosy interior, the upbeat music, and the rather private booths that filled the room.

It was also the best tempura she had ever had.

Groaning happily, she threw down her chopsticks and closed her eyes to savour the final bite. From now on, Shikamaru alone would decide where they ate. He was also great company, not obnoxiously loud or sullenly silent like most of her other friends.

A happy medium.

He was also a gentleman, who reluctantly let her pay for her half of the meal, but insisted on paying for the drinks. He also insisted on walking her home, despite the fact that she was a ninja and could obviously handle herself.

Outside her door, the evening was pleasantly warm, and the distant sounds of laughter and chatter drifted up from the main road several streets away.

Shikamaru was stood staring at her, like he was trying to figure something out. Feeling self-conscious, Sakura tucked her hair behind her ears before slapping him on the arm.

"Would you stop that? You're freaking me out!"

Smiling, he shook his head. "Sorry, I was just thinking." He paused, looking out over the balcony railing. "Thanks for helping me, I would probably have fled the village by now if I'd had to do it alone."

She laughed loudly, reassuring him that it was no problem.

The silence then came back, and Shikamaru looked like he was fighting over whether or not to say something. He looked troubled, and Sakura couldn't help but be concerned. Reaching out, she gently grabbed his hand, an action that had him instantly facing her again.

"What's wrong?" she questioned, brows furrowed.

He could only focus on how warm her hand was.

"I just-"

He stopped, breathed, tried again.

"I had fun. Not the babysitting, I mean, but with you." His words came out in a scramble, and he ducked his head with a scowl to hide the slight blush on his cheeks.

Sakura was stunned, because she had definitely not been expecting that. Her mouth hang open for a second as she tried to process exactly what that meant in Shikamaru-speak.

Just as she was about to voice her confusion, she shut her mouth. She'd stopped being a shy little girl a long time ago.

With a sharp tug on his hand to draw him towards her, she pushed onto her tiptoes, planted a kiss on his lips then pulled away and opened her door.

"My shift ends at 7 tomorrow. Wear a shirt, not your uniform for once, ok?"

Then with a smile, she was gone.

Shikamaru could only stand and splutter. It was a good ten seconds before he caught himself. Laughing bemusedly, he started the trip back home, smile on his face the entire way.

Maybe babysitting wasn't so bad.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Sometimes, you just need fluffy rubbish to satisfy a pairing craving_


End file.
